JCJ 12.18.13

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OPINION: JCUSD stays on top of digital conversion: Page A4 NEWS: Concealed Carry website available for application information: Page A3

CURRENT RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER

PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE

PAID Jerseyville, IL PERMIT NO. 204

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

P.O. Box 407 Jerseyville, IL 62052

JERSEY COUNTY

JERSEYVILLE, IL 62052

INSIDE NEWS

Toys for Tots shopping spree. See page A3

FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS

Haddie's 1st birthday. See page A6

SCHOOL

Privileged parking at JCHS. See page C2

SPORTS

Lady Panthers win 10th-straight game. See page C8

ONLINE Visit us on the web at

jerseycountyjournal.com

TOP STORIES ONLINE Week of Dec. 11-17

1) DHS petitions to send Prough back to Jersey County 2) High school teacher suspended during investigation 3) Injuries in Wednesday night crash not life threatening 4) Lady Panthers survive late Rally 5) Goetten back with Gettin’ Artsy

JOURNAL VOL. 11, NO. 51 - 75¢

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Confidential county letter leaked to public By ROBERT LyONS Jersey County Journal A letter to the Jersey County Board containing highly confidential personnel information has been leaked to the public, which, according to State’s Attorney Ben Goetten, has both civil and legal implications. The letter to the board came from the county’s workman’s compensation and liability insurance provider, Illinois County Insurance Trust Inc. Goetten said the letter was distributed to board members during a closed session at a special meeting, and both he and board chairman Jerry Wittman made it clear the information and

documentation was to remain confidential. “Each and every board member understood that and agreed not to discuss these issues outside executive session due to the potential liability on the county,” Goetten said in a statement to the Journal. The letter, according to Goetten, was drafted for the purpose of assessing issues of liability the county was facing. He said, to his knowledge, no one other than himself and the board had access to the letter. However, Jersey County business owner Rob Higgins presented a copy of the letter to a Journal reporter at the Dec. 10 county board meeting.

Journeys School shapes students for future By BOB CROSSEN Jersey County Journal The Journeys School in Delhi is breaking down the stigma tied to alternative learning methods for children with behavioral problems, and proving those students can learn as well as the rest. The vision of Dr. Mark Dixon, professor of behavioral analysis at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, the two-year-old Journeys program draws students from four districts including Jersey Community Unit School District 100. Journeys School Principal Mary Pearson said the approach designed by Dixon’s methods drastically changed students' grades as well as their attendance records, and Dixon said GPAs for students at the school doubled from what they were previously achieving. “We were taking kids who were getting an average of about D+ or C- and brought them up to about a B+, A-,” Dixon said, noting attendance made even better improvements. “It was about a 65 percent. … It was 89 percent at the end of last year, meaning we increase their attendance by nearly 30 points.” Dixon said the program works with the kids to change their mindset on studying and learning while also promoting better behavior. He said the teachers and administrators always put the students’ psychology before anything else to ensure the lessons stick. Each student gathers points – or loses them for poor behavior – throughout the day, tracking their improvement or lack thereof, but the points do not roll over to the next day. Beginning each day with a clean slate has its benefits for students who often felt judged in other environments. (See, journeyS, A2)

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While the content of the letter is not public information, it was in response to its investigation into County Code Administrator Mike Prough, whose contract with the county was subsequently terminated with 60 days notice. Higgins said he’s not sure where his copy of the letter came from. “I came back from being in St. Louis and it was laying in the seat of my truck,” he said. “It just showed up here.” Goetten said the letter is not available through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, as several exemptions of the law require it remain confidential. The state’s attorney said he

“I’d like to be able to say with a great deal of certainty that it didn’t come from a member of this board, but the evidence points to the contrary.”

Ben Goetten State's Attorney doesn’t want to speculate on how the letter may have leaked into the public. “I’d like to be able to say with a great deal of certainty that it didn’t come from a member of this board, but the evidence points to the contrary,” Goetten said. “Board members could

EDUCATION

NICE RUN IN NAUGHTY WEATHER

“We are still maintaining curriculum resources. Some are free. Some are through Pearson and some are through other contractual educational sources. We’re not losing the curricular component. What we are doing is changing the mainframe through which to travel.” Michael Weaver/Jersey County Journal

Participants in the Naughty or Nice Run make their way through Grafton Hills Sunday morning. The race, in its second year, took place despite freezing temperatures and a large snowfall the day before. michaelrweaver.com

New law mandates teaching contraception in sex ed tion to abstinence in sexual education lessons. Jersey Community Unit School District 100 superintendent Lori Hopkins said the district follows the state mandated guidelines, requiring the teachings to be evidence-

JINGLE

based and medically accurate. “Currently, we’re aligned to the Common Core. Currently, we are within the mandates of comprehensive sexual education program,” Hopkins said. The amended code requires

schools to instruct students in “both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.” Schools are instructed to explain condom usage (See, mAnDAte, A2)

BELL ROCKIN'

INDEX Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D4 News . . A2, A3, A7, B2, B3, C7 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . B4 Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Our Town . . . . . . . . . . A8 Public Notice . . . . D1, D4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . C8 OBITUARIES:

ABBOTT, BAKER, CAMBRON, CARTER, CLOTHIER, EISLER, FRANKE, LADD, LYLES, MCCOY, RYAN, TOWELL, TREIS, WITT

jerseycountyjournal .com

Robert Lyons/Jersey County Jounral

© 2013 Jersey County Journal

District 100 returns to Skyward, retains some Pearson services

By BOB CROSSEN Jersey County Journal The Jersey Community Unit School District No. 100 worked with Pearson to create an amended contract for its online platform and curriculum service accessed through Power School. The district entered into a five-year contract with Pearson for the services, but the proposed amendment, action on which was scheduled to be taken during the board’s regular meeting Dec. 18, would step back from Power School to return to Skyward, the online platform previously used by the district. “We had some challenges along the way,” Superintendent Lori Hopkins said. “All of our curricula was fed through [Power School] and

STATE

By BOB CROSSEN Jersey County Journal With the implementation of new laws at the beginning of the year, school districts in Illinois will be required to teach safe sex in addi-

also be held liable individually under a defamation action for information they were responsible for leaking that was published to a third party. The person or persons that have a copy of this letter are also potentially subject (See, letter, A2)

First grader Trevor Brown leads a rap during Tuesday night's West Elementary Christmas program at Jersey Community High School. Kindergartners and first graders sang songs and delivered dialogue for a large audience in the JCHS gymnasium. C

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Lori Hopkins Superintendent

this created challenges. So what we communicated to Pearson was that we wanted to go back to our previous platform, but at the same time maintain those curricula, several curricula resources, through Pearson.” The reduced contract for the spring semester will save the district around $200,000 in the Pearson contract. However, in contracting with Skyward the savings will become closer to a wash, Hopkins said. After all things are ironed out, she said the district may save around $100,000 for converting to Skyward. Through Power School all information pertaining to a student’s class was accessed through the online portal. Hopkins said the district feared issues with Power School. “That’s been the challenge. When you’re going through a single sign-on, you move through one platform to all of your curricula,” Hopkins said. “If the platform goes down, all of your curricula becomes unusable.” She said the change will make log-ins different for some classes to separate the access among different platforms, so if one fails, others would still be accessible. Though having everything in one place is a matter of convenience, Hopkins said students “maneuver the web like no one’s business.” Throughout the day, students will visit a number of sites for their classes such as EdModo, an online social network for teachers and students to interact with each other outside of the classroom. Some teachers specify required reading through EdModo to other sites in addition to use of Power School – and now Skyward. She said the shift to Skyward was based on the district’s desire to better communicate with students and parents through online portals, adding the change will not disrupt the one-to-one implementation of the digital conversion. “We are still maintaining curriculum resources. Some are free. Some are through Pearson and some are through other contractual educational sources,” Hopkins said. “We’re not losing the curricular component. What we are doing is changing the mainframe through which to travel.” Despite the challenges posed when the platform would go down, Hopkins said teachers immediately responded to the adversity with a back-up plan because they are aware of the problems that can arise due to technology failure. The Internet offers more opportunities for complementary curricula – which can be downloaded or printed out – to a teacher’s planned (See, DiStrict 100, A2)


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